GAP Demo Day 2019 marked the graduation of the third cohort of startups that participated in The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC)’s Global Accelerator Programme (GAP).
There was also a royal touch, with His Highness Tengku Amir Shah Ibni Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al Haj, Crown Prince Of Selangor, Founder and Royal Patron Selangor Youth Community, present to visit the booths of every startup as well as listen to their startup pitches from the beginning to the end.
You could also say that this day marked MaGIC CEO Dzuleira Abu Bakar’s first year at the helm of their flagship accelerator programme.
“2019 is the year that we improved the curricular essence of GAP 2019 to be more industry-led. This year’s GAP became more outcome-driven from the get-go,” said Dzuleira.
“GAP equips startups, keen on expanding in Southeast Asia, with the necessary skills, tools and network to be sustainable, investment-ready and primed for ASEAN expansion in 4 months.”
Out of 1,170 applications from 68 countries, only 25 made it to the GAP Demo Day stage. Out of those pitches, here are 10 homegrown names that you can keep an eye on as they continue their startup journey, in alphabetical order.
1. Arteca / REQA Toys
REQA Toys by Arteca Sdn Bhd is developing block-based toys and robotic kits for both entertainment and education. These toys are designed to have flexible designs with varying complexity so people of all ages can enjoy them.
“Three months ago, our Ministry of Education mentioned a study on the use of toys to encourage mental simulation,” said Amrina Shakira, Founder of Arteca Sdn Bhd.
“The problem for most of our public schools for the technology syllabus, is that they either learn with only one product shared with the whole class or just theory learning because the hands-on product is usually costly, especially robotics.”
Identifying this lack of toy-based learning equipment in schools, REQA Toys’ have already distributed kits to a number of private schools across Malaysia.
2. ClicknCare
ClicknCare is an online platform created to help make healthcare more accessible to migrants. A migrant himself, founder Abu Hasnat Sultanur Reza created this platform to address the difficulty of finding doctors that speak in the migrants’ own languages, as well as to find healthcare at a reasonable cost.
Using telemedicine services, ClicknCare enables patients to book online and offline appointments, video call healthcare professionals, get diagnosed, and obtain prescriptions, all from a single app.
“Look at the magnificent Twin Towers built by 7,000 workers, look at the MRT we enjoy riding, look at the splendid massive buildings, all this was built by the migrant workers’ salty sweat. Don’t we have something to give them back? Let’s join hands and make this world better for migrant workers,” said Sultanur Reza.
3. CurrenSeek
CurrenSeek is an app that allows money changers to advertise their rates and locations in real-time, digitally transforming the underserved currency exchange industry.
“They are very traditional brick-and-mortar businesses mostly and are extremely dependent on walk-in customers. They have limited visibility into the demand for various currencies and actually find it very challenging to source foreign currency for you,” said Amir Haghbinshomali, Founder of CurrenSeek.
Users of the app can also help update the currency exchange rates of any outlet, share it with their friends or even write reviews. This is all synched up with Google Maps and Waze to make locating these money changers easier.
4. iFull
iFull delivers on-demand phone repair right to your doorstep. Starting out as a traditional walk-in service in 2015, they have since opted to bring their services to the customer instead, with coverage that includes the Klang Valley, Penang and Kedah.
Going a step further, they even have a Phone Repair Training Academy to teach people on the basics of phone maintenance, including the dismantling and assembling of various mobile devices.
5. KOPPA
“David Beckham, Christano Ronaldo, I bet everyone knows these famous football players. But can you name me our Malaysian football players? Most of the people I ask say Mokthar Dahari, a player from the 1980s,” said Azlan Shah bin A Shafiuddin, Founder of KOPPA.
“People knew them because media covers them as the hero of the sport, the role of media in making these players famous is undeniable.”
KOPPA is a sports media content and fan engagement platform. They aim to build a community in support of the local sports scene by going beyond just reporting on scoreboards. Instead they produce content to inform and to entertain, celebrating sports and its fans .
They have just launched their first original series, KOPPA FC, and has secured a partnership with the Malaysian Football League to produce even more content. KOPPA will also be available on iFlix.
6. NakRide
Nakride is a peer-to-peer motorbike sharing/rental service which connects owners of underutilised motorbikes with potential renters.
From a humble motorcycle rental service that only had two bikes in operation, NakRide’s P2P web-based platform is now a place where bike owners can earn extra income by renting out their bikes. Meanwhile renters have access to a variety of bikes that can be rented out for short to long periods of time.
7. Pickiddo
Pickiddo is a cloud based platform that helps tuition centres control and manage their administration. With the help of a smart search feature, records can be easily found and retrieved through a handy mobile app.
Their other features include attendance recording, teacher assignment/scheduling, payment management, and student information data basing.
Currently, Pickiddo has over 3,000 students, 400 teachers and 50 learning centres registered on their platform.
8. SlingApp
You may have already heard of the “Tinder For Jobseekers”. SlingApp is a mobile app that automates the hiring process for recruiters.
With SlingApp, jobseekers merely need to swipe right to apply for nearby jobs, and if they match the job requirements, they are interviewed automatically by SlingApp’s AI.
Having operated as a freemium service for two years, they now going commercial with the launch of a new ‘Pay For Post” pricing plan which includes additional services like featured job hosting, unlimited job hosting as well as talent searching.
9. Telebort
Telebort believes that “kids can code” and aims to empower the younger generation to pursue digital careers. Founded by alumni of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Telebort conducts after-school, weekend, and holiday programmes to teach computer science to school children within the age of 7 to 15 years.
“At Telebort, we believe that kids can code and we should teach our young children computer science, when they are as young as possible,” said Kee Chong Wei, Founder of Telebort.
“Most of the children, their eyes light up, they are very happy, they are very curious about technology. What we need to do here is to just give them the skills and the confidence to share the world today.”
They also work with schools and universities to set up their own Digital Maker Labs and Computer Guru communities (as they call it) to enable and promote computer science learning.
10. Vechnology
Combining the words “Vending Technology”, Vechnology builds IoT enabled smart vending machines with the goal of lowering operating expenditure and optimising human resources.
Using Cloud integration, their machines allow for real-time inventory tracking and management. So far, the range of goods that can be vended from their machines range from food and beverages to medical products, personal protection equipment and other essentials.
- You can read more on what we’ve written about MaGIC here.